On Letting Go
by Rubyyy
Summary: An unexpected phone call triggers some dormant feelings within Jihoo.


Notes: The characters, of course, don't belong to me. And neither do the song lyrics.

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It was only Monday, but Dr. Yoon Jihoo was already entertaining thoughts about the weekend. A slow afternoon at the clinic gave him time to think, a luxury (or a bane) he rarely had, given the number of responsibilities he had to handle. But he wasn't complaining.

As he sat at his desk, head comfortably rested on his right hand, his eyes wandered over the lone wooden photo frame next to the table lamp. Jihoo let his gaze linger on it for a few moments before gently picking it up. The relaxed faces of his grandfather and his own 20-year-old self grinned back at him, and he couldn't help but return the smile. It's a picture he's glanced at a thousand times over, yet the memory of that moment remains fresh in his mind each time he does. He delicately grazed his grandfather's face with his fingers.

"Thank you for believing in me, _haraboji_," Jihoo whispered, "I will make you proud."

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sounds of classical music, and it took him a while to realize it was his cell phone. He set the photo down equally gently, and reached over to grab the buzzing phone. Junpyo's name flashed across the screen. He pressed the call button calmly. "Ah, Junpyo-yah."

"_Yobusaeyeo?_" A female voice crackled over the other line.

Jihoo blinked. The reception couldn't be that bad. He could've sworn he heard…

"_Yobusaeyeo? Sunbae_?" The voice continued to hover.

Jihoo made a mental note to call the phone company the next day to complain about crossed lines. This happened much too oft-

"Yah! Jihoo _sunbae_! Is something wrong with your phone?"

It really was… "Jandi. No, no, nothing's wrong with my phone. Is something wrong with yours? You're using Junpyo's phone."

A laugh tinkled over the other line, which made his heart skip twice. "It's just me, as usual. I left my phone at home. Anyway, Junpyo's driving now, and we just wanted to ask you for directions to that great tea house you brought us to the last time. The one with the rose and jasmine tea you like? We can't remember how to get there from his place…"

"Yah, commoner," Junpyo's curt voice rang out in the background, "Who asked you to sleep the last time when we were on the way there?" Jihoo heard Jandi suck in a deep breath on the other end. He could just picture the annoyance written all over her face. "Hey, _pabo_!" she shrilled back, "Were you sleeping with your eyes open? You were in the front seat but you can't even remember which exit to take on the highway!"

Jihoo patiently waited (all of 2 minutes) for his chance to interject and gave Jandi instructions to the tea house. She thanked him with her usual cheer, before turning on Junpyo again. "Yah! Make sure you keep your eyes on the roa-" Jihoo disconnected the call. He didn't really want to hear another of their epic lovers' spats.

Setting the phone down, he stared at it for a while, unsure of what to do next. For some reason, that phone call really caught him off guard. Leaning back on his chair, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his heartbeat. _Thud-thud. Thud-thud. Thud-thud._ It was beating a little faster than usual. _Too much adrenaline_, he thought to himself, as he drew in a breath.

It's amazing that even after so long, she still had that effect on him.

_Open the door and come in  
I'm so glad to see you my friend  
Don't know how long it has been  
Having those feelings again._

_And now I see that you're so happy  
And ooh, it just sets me free__  
And I'd like to see  
Us as good friends  
As we used to be_

Jihoo sighed and opened his eyes. He needed to calm himself down somehow. Looking around the office, he spotted his grandfather's small transistor radio next to some plants by the windowsill. He got up to retrieve it, and when he flipped it on, static filled the air immediately. He fiddled with the tuner for a few moments, skipping weird rap tunes and more of that boyband stuff, trying to find the classical channel. Just as he did, he twirled the dial a little too much and missed it. "_Aish._ Oh well," he mumbled, "I'll just settle with whatever."

'Whatever' eventually turned out to be an acoustic song with an unfamiliar tune. The song was already in the midst of playing, and the female singer's honey voice streamed through the speakers. Jihoo walked back to his desk, and set the radio down.

_Sometimes it's hard to believe  
That you're never coming back to me  
I've had this dream that you'd always be by my side  
Oh I could have died.  
_

_But now I see that you're so happy  
And ooh, it just sets me free.  
And I'd like to see  
Us as good friends  
As we used to be_

Jihoo stared out of the window thoughtfully, allowing the meaning of the words to settle on his heart. Of course he still thought about Jandi - he'd be lying if he said he didn't. He had hoped that maybe she would feel the same way he did, but he knew that Junpyo had won her heart. Sometimes he wondered if she was really happy. She seemed to be, now more than ever before, especially since all the angst and drama she'd gone through with Junpyo those many years ago is now ancient history. But he could never resist wondering if he could have made her that much happier.

_I tried to find you but you were so far away  
I was praying that fate would bring you back to me  
Someday, someday, someday... Ooh, you're in love_

He turned around and leaned his back against the windowsill, still deep in thought. Suddenly, Jihoo reached for the chain around his neck and pulled it out from under his shirt, his fingers finding his mother's ring. The same ring he tried to give to Jandi as a sign of his love. The same ring she gave back to him. He held it for a few moments. The cool metal between his fingertips felt oddly comforting.

_You're in love  
That's the way / it should be  
'Cause I want you to be happy  
You're in love / And I know  
That you're not in love with me  
Ooh it's enough  
For me to know  
That you're in love  
Now I'll let you go  
'Cause I know  
That you're in love_

The singer held the last note, and as the song faded out, the DJ came back on the air. "Hope you enjoyed that track, an acoustic Korean cover of a song called 'You're In Love' by the American pop group Wilson Philips…"

Jihoo breathed in deeply. Those 4 minutes spoke so much more than anything he could ever say. And somehow he was at peace with that. He looked down at the ring again and smiled. _I know you're happy, Jandi, _he thought to himself,_ I know you are._

"_PABO_! Why couldn't you just trust me on the instructions? Huh? Did you leave your sense of direction on Jeju Island?" Jihoo looked up upon hearing a muffled, yet familiar female voice approaching the reception. "Here we go again,"he sighed, rolling his eyes. Turning off the radio, he got up from his desk and walked out of his office to enter the impending war-zone.

Jandi and Junpyo entered the reception as he did so, still at loggerheads with each other and unaware that he was in the same room. He watched them coolly, allowing them go on for a few moments.

"_Yah_, so what happened?" he said, eventually breaking up the argument, "Weren't you guys going to the tea house?"

The duo turned to look at him, acknowledging his presence for the first time.

"_Aish_, Jihoo-yah," Junpyo began, an irritated look on his face, "Never, ever, EVER give Jandi anymore directions okay, not even if she's the last person on earth! She-YEOWCH!"

Jandi had her boyfriend's left ear in a death grip. "Gu. Jun. Pyo. Don't you go pushing the blame on other people when YOU were the one who MADE 3 WRONG TURNS after insisting YOU were on the right track! I just followed what Jihoo _sunbae_ told me! It wasn't even that difficult!" She twisted his ear a little more and he yelped louder, trying to remove himself from her grip.

Jihoo looked on disapprovingly, shaking his perfectly coiffed head at the bickering couple. "Kids, keep it down. My neighbours might think I'm running some sort of a torture facility instead of a clinic." Jandi huffed, and obediently let Junpyo's reddening ear go. Junpyo pouted and rubbed his ear, trying to relieve some of the pain. "_Aish_," he muttered, "You're worse than my _noona_."

There was a beat as the trio looked at each other, and then around the room. Jandi tried to help Junpyo relieve some of the pain by awkwardly blowing on his ear, but he swatted her away, his hand barely missing her face. Jihoo could see her getting annoyed again, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She swatted Junpyo's hand away and started rubbing his ear for him.

"Anyway," Jandi said to Jihoo casually, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "We were wondering if you'd like to come to the tea house with us? That way we'd know for sure we won't get lost, and we could spend some time with you too. Right, Gu Junpyo?" She elbowed Junpyo as discreetly as she could, catching him by surprise. "Ah, yeah, yeah. Come with us, Jihoo," he echoed, "It's been a while since we'd last talked."

Jihoo looked at them with his usual seriousness. "Let me check my schedule," he deadpanned, plucking an imaginary organizer from mid-air and pretending to flip through it. "Ah, I was going to water my plants right about now, but I'm sure they can wait till I come back." Jandi laughed at Jihoo's unusual burst of humour, while Junpyo stepped forward to mock-punch him in the arm. Jihoo smiled his megawatt smile and tried to block his shot.

As Jandi and Junpyo went out to wait for him in the car, Jihoo strode back into his office to grab his bag. As he was turning off the lights in the reception area, he could see Junpyo and Jandi in the distance, walking towards the car hand in hand, calmly deep in conversation. All seemed well in their world again, at least for now.

He smiled and shook his head at his two best friends. He could never figure them out. But he knew that no matter how much they seemed at odds with each other, they were happy to be together. (They just have a strange way of showing it.) And he was happy for them too.

Jihoo lingered at the window for a moment. Then, he turned around, walked out of the clinic, and closed the sliding door behind him.


End file.
